


Spiders

by thek9kid



Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Family, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mentions of Booker - Freeform, Spiders, Team as Family, fear of spiders, jumping on furniture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-20
Updated: 2020-08-20
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:22:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,213
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26017228
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thek9kid/pseuds/thek9kid
Summary: “It’s just a spider.”“Spiders are evil,” Joe whispered, hugging Nicky’s head, “you know this, woman!”Andy groaned again.
Relationships: Andy | Andromache & Booker | Sebastien le Livre & Joe | Yusuf al-Kaysani & Nicky | Nicolò di Genova, Andy | Andromache of Scythia & Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani & Nicky | Nicolò di Genova, Andy | Andromache of Scythia & Nile Freeman & Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani & Nicky | Nicolò di Genova, Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova, Nile Freeman & Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani & Nicky | Nicolo di Genova
Comments: 13
Kudos: 222





	Spiders

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: Hi Guys, just had this idea and wanted to share it with you all. I hope you like it! Enjoy!
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own The Old Guard, if I did I would not be here.

It was a peaceful morning in their Tokyo safehouse. Joe was lounging on the couch sketchbook in hand as he drew his lovely Nicolo reading by the window.

They had just finished a stressful job involving human trafficking and gunrunners. It was nice to take some time to unwind and enjoy his love and passion.

He was just finishing the final touches on Nico’s smile when he felt an unsettling tingling sensation run down his arm, he shivered and looked down, seeing an eight-legged monstrosity creeping down his forearm. 

Joe screamed, flung his sketchbook in the air, and cleared the six-foot jump to Nicky’s armchair by the window.

“Yusef? What are you-” Nicky flailed as the chair tipped over onto the floor.

“Spider!” Joe whispered, hiding his face in Nicky’s neck. He felt him tense and they scrambled to their feet, Joe still holding tight to Nicky. “Book-!” Joe cut himself off, ice-cold needles pierced his heart. He forgot for a moment the other man wasn’t there, and wouldn’t be there to kill spiders for them for 100 years.

“Where?” Nicky questioned his voice even and devoid of emotion, but his back was ramrod straight, his shoulders tense and fists clenched but shaking slightly.

“Over there somewhere,” Joe vaguely gestured to the couch.

“Ok, I got this,” Nicky said, a little of the tension eased from his shoulders.

“You got this?” Joe asked, knowing his love was scared of spiders too. 

“I got this,” he said and inched his way over to the couch, shoe in hand. When he finally reached the couch, he scanned it for a moment before flipping the cushions and scanning the fabric underneath. “I don’t see anything-” he cut himself off with a yelp as a little dark speck jumped into his face. He batted at the thing and it fell to the ground, advancing quickly towards Joe, who in turn screamed and jumped onto a kitchen chair. Nicky leaped up onto the chair with him, they clung to each other and shouted warnings to the spider in Italian and Arabic, reverting to their first languages in their fear. The Spider stopped for a moment and seemed to consider the threats before continuing its prowl. Joe screamed and jumped into Nicky’s arms and held on for dear life. 

“What the hell is going on?!” Andy shouted as she entered the room, Labrys in hand, and took in the sight.

“Spider!” the couple said in unison pointing at the dark speck not a meter from them.

Andy groaned, setting her weapon down on the couch and walked past the couple to get her coffee going.

“Boss?” Nicky asked craning his neck. “Kill it for us, please?” 

“Why don’t you ask-” she stopped seemingly remembering their resident bug killer was gone. “Aw shit,” she said and set her mug down. “Fine, I’ll get rid of it for you,” she sighed with a small smile. She walked back to them and just as she was about to step on it the thing moved with inhuman speed, crawling up the leg of the chair. The couple let out an unearthly screech and flung themselves into Andy’s arms. She just barely managed to catch them on her one leg, the other still raised for the kill.

“Seriously guys,” she muttered adjusting her grip and setting her stance. “It’s just a spider.” 

“Spiders are evil,” Joe whispered, hugging Nicky’s head, “you know this, woman!”

Andy groaned again.

“Whaaaaat am I looking at?” Nile said as she entered the kitchen.

“There’s a spider,” the three of them said with varying levels of fear and exasperation.

To Joe’s horror Nile’s face lit up in a smile. “Where?” she exclaimed.

“On- on the chair?” Nicky said, tilting his head to the side.

Nile ran over and knelt next to the terror. “Hey there little guy, causing some mayhem huh?”

Joe’s jaw dropped as Nile held out her hand and the spider crawled up onto her hand, “Let’s get you outside where you belong,” she cooed, and cupped her hands together as she exited the house.

As she left Andy unceremoniously dropped the two baffled men to the ground. 

“Finally someone with some sense around here,” she muttered as she went back to her coffee.

Nile came back in as Nicky and Joe picked themselves off the floor.

“You like spiders?” Joe asked, one of his eyes twitching.

“Yeah, they are so cool!”

“They are NOT so cool! There is nothing cool about spiders!” Joe fumed. “They are the evilest beings to walk the earth!”

“They’re just misunderstood. Just cause they look a little scary doesn’t mean they are. They’re just here trying to live their best life, same as us,” she said pouring herself a bowl of cereal. “You guys afraid of them?” she asked, her eyes flicked over each of the three faces.

“Yes,” Joe nodded his head, “I had a traumatic childhood experience,” he shivered remembering how his jerk of a neighbor, Waleed, had tormented him with his pet tarantula. “And I’ve woken up from death multiple times with spiders all over me,” he shook himself feeling their phantom legs skittering across his skin. Nicky pressed a kiss to his temple.

“Yeah, my little brother’s scared of them too, would scream his head off until I took it outside,” Nile said her eyes cast down to her bowl. Joe put his arm around her shoulder and she smiled up at him.

She turned to Nicky who shrugged, “I just don’t like how they move, they freak me out, and I can’t tell which ones are poisonous,” Nicky said, hugging Joe who leaned his head against his.

Nile looked over to Andy. “I have no feelings about them one way or the other.” She sipped at her coffee and moved back to her room to get dressed.

“So guess I’m the spider wrangler now, huh?” Nile grinned. Joe and Nicky turned to each other, sharing a sad smile.

“What?”

“Nothing, it’s just Book used to take care of the spiders for us. He never made fun of us for our fear either,” Joe said, his eyes firmly on the counter.

“He said his middle son was terrified of them. He almost died of a spider bite when he was young, scared the crap out of Booker,” Nicky added as he scrambled some eggs for breakfast.

“You know, I’m still pissed at him, but I miss him too,” Joe said, spooning some sugar into his coffee, “It feels like everywhere I turn there’s a little piece of him. It’s not always a bad thing, but it hurt, it still hurts.” He patted his chest.

“It’s only been a few months,” Nile said, holding his hand on the table. “Give yourself time.” 

Joe nodded and smiled as Nicky leaned back from the stove to kiss his cheek.

“Ok, Nile, what do you want on your omelet?” Nicky asked, pulling fillings out of the fridge. Nile grinned and started a discussion (argument) about what was best on an omelet.

“Pineapple does not belong on an omelet Nile!” Nicky argued. Joe smiled, sat back, and watched his family, it wasn’t whole, it wouldn’t be for a long time, but it was healing.

He just had to give it some time.

**Author's Note:**

> Heeeeey, so what did you think? Let me know in a comment and don’t forget to leave a kudos!
> 
> TTFN!
> 
> K9KID OUT!


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